IVS Wiki:VALT 6 Manual - Observe

Introduction

The Observe section is where live observation and recording takes place. On this page you can find the rooms, and streams that you have access to.

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Here you will be able to do the following:

⚠Not all features may be applicable for your application.

• Perform live observation
• Start and stop recordings
• Control Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras
• Talkback into a room

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Live Observation

Search

The Search allows you to quickly find the specific room, device, or stream you are looking for.

1. Click the Search icon in the top left corner.
2. Type the name of the room, device, or stream you are looking for.
3. Look under Rooms for the search results.

🕮See the search feature in action!

Try it out!

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Filter

Users can filter their list to show only specific items.

1. All (Default): Selecting this will show all available items.
2. Rooms: Selecting this will display only the rooms available to the user.

   Rooms are created by the administrators of the system.

3. Views: Selecting this will display any custom views available to the user.

   Views are saved collections of cameras and streams.

4. Streams: Selecting this will display all available streams to the user.

   BEAM streaming would fit under this category.

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Select

The Select option allows users to start multiple recordings and stop multiple recordings in multiple rooms.

1. Number of Rooms
2. Select: Opens the selction tool to check multiple rooms to perform an action.

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Open a Room

1. Locate the room from the list.
2. Click on the name of that room.

✎Recording happens at the room level.

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Open a Stream

1. Locate a room that contains the desired stream.
2. Expand the room by clicking the + Expand icon.
3. Click on the name of the stream.

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Camera Control

Each video feed will have a variety of options for control. These controls can vary depending on the type of camera/device.

• Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera
• Fixed camera

Digital Zoom

Users can zoom in and out on any video feed using a digital zoom. This zooming is only viewable to the user performing the zoom. This means that it will not impact a recording and will not affect other users live observing the feed.

A digital zoom will only take the existing pixels and make them larger. This means there is no increase in image quality.

🕮Want to see Digital Zoom in action?

Try it out!

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Move Camera (PTZ)

1. Click anywhere on the video feed of your PTZ camera, to open the stream controls.
2. Click on the Move camera icon.
3. Position the bullseye on the desired location.
   • Left click to center view on that point.
   • Mouse scroll wheel is used to zoom in and out.

🕮Want to see Camera Control (PTZ) in action?

Try it out!

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Presets

The preset dropdown enables users to quickly navigate to predefined locations with specific camera zoom levels.

Create Presets

1. Using the PTZ control, move the camera to the desired location.
2. Click the 'Select Preset' dropdown and select 'Save Current'.

Delete Presets

1. Click the 'Select Preset' dropdown.
2. Hover over the preset to be deleted and click the Delete icon.

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Talkback

Clicking the Talkback icon allows a user to talk back into a room using the audio output on the camera (assuming this output has been wired to a speaker or audio transmitter).

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Sound Control

The speaker icon mutes / unmutes the audio for that camera. When viewing multiple cameras, the user can control which audio channel they are listening to using this button.

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Fullscreen Mode

The fullscreen icon allows you to expand the current camera view to fill the entire monitor screen.

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Share Settings

The share settings icon allows you to share videos with users who do not have VALT Accounts. If a user without an account opens the link, they will only see the VALT room that was shared with them.

✎A share link can be deleted at any time.

Create Sharing Link

1. Click on the share settings icon.
2. Select an expiration for the sharing link.
   • No expiration (default)

     Will never expire but can manually be removed later.

   • End after date

     Select a date when the link will no longer be valid.

   • End after period

     Specify the duration(Days/Hours) of time for which the link will be valid.

3. Click the ‘New Share Link’ button.

🕮Check out the share link feature yourself!

Try it out!

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Copy Sharing Link

1. Click on the share settings icon.
2. Click the ‘Copy Link’ button.

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Delete Sharing Link

1. Click the share settings icon.
2. Click the Delete icon.

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Locking Rooms

The lock feature is used to prevent viewing and recording of a room. When a room is locked, the user will be greated with a message indicating that the room is locked, and by which user.

When a room is locked, a lock icon will display next to the room.

Lock Room

1. Open the room which you would like to lock.
2. Click the lock icon.

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Unlock Room

1. Open the room which you would like to unlock.
2. Click the unlock icon.

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Views

Views allow users to customize how they watch or observe camera streams. A view can combine streams from multiple rooms or focus on a single camera within a multi-stream room. While camera streams are typically assigned to rooms, users may want personalized arrangements.

These views are unique to users and can be saved and deleted, per user.

Matrix Views

Matrix views offer flexible layout options for displaying multiple streams within a single view. A user can arrange up to 9 cameras in an assortment of different ways for live observation using the built-in matrix.

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Save View

1. Open a unique combination of streams.
2. Click 'Save View' in the top left.

   The view will now show up under Observe → Views for that user.

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Delete View

1. Click on 'Views'.
2. Hover over View to delete.
3. Click the Delete icon.

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Hide Left Panel

The left panel on the left can be hidden to maximize usable space for video content.

1. Click the Hide Panel icon to hide the Rooms/Views/Streams selection panel and to expand the camera streams to the left.

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Recording

There are several ways to initiate a recording using the VALT software. Recordings can started while observing a room through the software, using a physical start/stop button, RFID card readers, a built in scheduler, or our API.

Recording occurs at the room level. The REC button will not be available if you are only viewing a stream or a new view.

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Start a Recording

The REC button is used to initiate an ad-hoc recording. Pressing this button will bring up the information template.

1. Hover over a room.
2. Click the REC icon.
3. Enter in the appropriate information for the recording.
4. Click the REC button.

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Prepare a Recording

The Prepare button is used to arm a room for an active recording. This option allows you to fill in all the information fields ahead of time and then use a physical button or start recording button to initiate the recording.

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Recording Settings

When starting, preparing, or watching a recording in progress, users can modify various settings for the reocrding.

These settings are allow the user to manipulate the following items.:

• Information
• Evaluation
• Sharing
• Author
• Retention

Information

The Information tab allows users to assign data to a recording. This data can later be used to search for the recording.

This is the same template used when preparing or scheduling a recording. Each template can have multiple data fields, but at least one field is required. Users can be assigned multiple templates as needed.

🕮Want to learn more about Information Templates?

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Evaluation

This button pulls up the evaluation menu. Evaluation templates are typically used during a recording, or after a recording is completed. Numeric values can be assigned to the fields within an evaluation form. This allows scoring to be done on each item and the overall form.

🕮Want to learn more about Evaluation Templates?

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Sharing

Allows the user to share the recording with users / user groups that normally would not have access to it.

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Author

Allows the user to change the author of the recording. Changing the author will also change all the permissions associated with who has access to the recording (that is all based on author).

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Retention

Allows the user to change how long this recording is stored for before automatically being deleted.

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Recording Options

When a recording is in progress, the 'Recording Options' button will re-open the recording settings panel.

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Pause a Recording

The Pause icon will temporarily stop a live recording.

1. Hover over a room that is currently recording.
2. Press the Pause icon.

⚠Frequent or long pauses in a recording is not recommended.

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Resume a Recording

When a live recording is paused, any events occurring in the room will not be captured. Recording can be resumed to continue video capture. During playback, any paused sections will be seamlessly omitted from the video

1. Hover over a room that is currently paused
2. Press the Resume icon.

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Stop a Recording

Clicking the Stop icon will end a recording and immediately move it into Review.

1. Hover over a room that is currently recording.
2. Press the Stop icon.

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Sharing Link

The Sharing Settings creates a direct link to the room. This link can be emailed to user without a VALT account, if they click the link it will allow them to observe the linked room only.

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Comments

Add

Quick Markers

Enable Audio Mode

Add Mention

Attach a File

Open Comment Template

Select Color

Reset Timestamp

Reply

Edit

Delete

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Select

Start Multiple Recordings

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Stop Multiple Recordings